Man found dead in 1983 ID’d as victim of serial killer called Highway Murderer

KENTLAND, Ind. (WISH) — Remains found at a farm in Newton County have been identified as a victim of a serial killer.

The coroner identified the victim as John Brandenburg Jr., 19, of Chicago. He’d been known as Brad Doe since 1983.

Brandenburg was one of four men found on a farm off U.S. 41 about a half-mile north of State Road 10 near Lake Village. Mushroom hunters had discovered two skulls on Oct. 18, 1983, and investigators found the four men in shallow graves.

Authorities think Larry Eyler drugged then killed Brandenburg. Eyler was known as the Highway Murderer, who at the time of the discovery of the four bodies was believed to have already murdered up to 19 young males across several midwestern states.

Eyler confessed to multiple killings before dying due to AIDS-related complications in an Illinois prison in 1994.

The coroner worked with the nonprofit called DNA Doe Project to find relatives who were a genetic match.

By December 1983, two of the four murder victims had been identified via dental records as Michael Bauer and John Bartlett. The other victim found at the farm, known as Adam Doe, remains unidentified.